An
Obsolete Honor: A Story of the German Resistance to Hitler
Helena P. Schrader
iUniverse (2008)
ISBN 9780595490882
$28.95, pb, 543pp
Reviewed
Steve Donoghue for the Historical Novel Society (11/08)
Helena Schrader’s new
novel
An
Obsolete Honor deals with a dilemma of 20th century
history that’s often easily forgotten by the general public:
the fact that many Germans in the late ‘30s weren’t
Nazis, didn’t want to be Nazis, and didn’t at all
like the Nazis.
This alone would make Schrader’s novel noteworthy, but
it’s got much more to recommend it; this is a meaty,
gripping, entirely impressive work of historical fiction, full of
observant (and surprisingly wry) prose and dialog that rings
true. Schrader has spent a great deal of time in Germany and
interviewed many survivors of World War II, and as a result, the book
feels effortlessly authentic in its details.
The plot centers on Philip Baron von Feldburg, an officer in the German
army who intensely dislikes the changes he sees being ushered in by
Nazism. His younger brother Christian is star struck by the
Reich’s early military victories, and his sister Theresa
confronts the domestic side of National Socialism when she marries an
up-and-coming party member. Philip feels isolated in his
discontents until he meets Alexandra Mollwitz, a General Staff worker
who shares his disillusionment. It’s predictable
that the two would fall in love, but it’s handled so
winningly that the reader is only pleased.
Alexandra is the most remarkable and memorable character in
An Obsolete
Honor, especially as she and Philip become involved in
various plots to assassinate Hitler and end the madness of the
war. Actual historical figures mix with fictional characters
in the time-honored way of so many historical novels, and
Schrader’s portrayals are uniformly believable, even when
she’s writing about full-blown Nazi psychopaths.
Readers will, of course, be prepared for several less-than-happy
endings, but hope also survives. This novel is
enthusiastically recommended.
